


1,001 Lord Commander

by Sookiestark



Series: Three Stories of Winter Solstice in Westeros. [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, The Night's Watch, Undead, Winter Solstice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 02:08:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13090179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sookiestark/pseuds/Sookiestark
Summary: It is the longest night of the year at the Nightfort. Jaime Lannister, the 1,001 Lord Commander waits for what remains of the King in the North, Jon Snow. Jon has willingly gone with the Whte Walkers as part of the peace pact, but comes once a year to visit.





	1,001 Lord Commander

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea that popped in my head. It was hard to write because I have no idea how it will all end but I like the idea of Jaime Lannister surviving and becoming the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. I liked the idea of Jon changing like Coldhands/Benjen Stark to be something less than/more than human.

Night gathers and my watch begins. It shall not end until my death.

The Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch waits at the Nightfort for what remains of the King in the North. He looks out the window of the tower at the dark and frozen horizon. The sun is setting early tonight. It is the longest night of the year. It is the night he comes. The Lord Commander could see nothing on the horizon, but he had no reason not to believe he wouldn’t come. He always comes on this night and he needed what the Lord Commander had in the saddle bags.

The Lord Commander is always here to meet him. He takes a torch and wanders to the kitchen to wait for him. He has brought the supplies that he always does and the other things. When he gets to the kitchen, he adds more wood to the fire.

 

I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. 

Jaime Lannister has learned to live with his grief and his regret. He has lived with it these last three years and he has started to believe that he will take it with him to the grave. Sometimes, he wonders how he became the 1,001 Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Surely, there had been another sorry bugger who could have taken the mantle. However, when the count was over, Jaime Lannister, once known as Kingslayer was the Lord Commander of the NIght’s Watch. He had spent the last three years pouring his life and head, and whatever was left of his heart, into the job.

Edd Tollett had been the 999th Lord Commander but had fallen at the Battle of Castle Black. He could not remember who was the 1000th Lord Commander, but the man had fallen quickly, like so many men during the war. However, Jaime remembers the cold bitter night he took his oath to the Night’s Watch. He had said his vows in Winterfell in the tiny sept there. In some ways, there had been relief when he had said the vow. After all, he had been heading here since he killed Aerys and it finally felt like justice. 

It had not mattered the celibacy or the certain death. After all, what did he have without Cersei? They had shared everything. Their children were dead. She had lost her mind with and when he had heard she had been murdered on the Iron Throne, he had felt a brief sadness about another child lost to him. But he had reminded himself, he had never really been a father to any of them.  
He knew he when he left Cersei, unprotected in King’s Landing, she would die. 

But that lumbering wench…? He had expected her to survive the war. He had hoped that she would outlive all of them with her unbending honor and her brilliant blue eyes. Brienne of Tarth was his to protect, the last best thing in his life. However in the end, his will and strength were nothing compared to death. 

During the Great Battler, he had led the vanguard. All was lost and he craved death. It was certain he was doomed to die. Gladly, he picked up his sword, donned his armor and rode into the thick of it. When he was left standing, among so many dead, Jaime Lannister decided perhaps there might be a reason he still walked. Perhaps, he had not earned the right to quiet sleep of death. Perhaps, he needed to live as a haunted man. Perhaps, there was still he must do and who was he to resist it. He had gone in the battle to die and come out with a purpose, to lead the Night’s Watch.

 

I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the wall. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the the shield that guards the realms of men. 

 

Jaime Lannister tasted the stew in the cookpot over the fire. There was a boy in the Night's Watch who had taught him how to make it. He figured the man who he would be meeting hadn’t eaten anything good and warm in a while. He’d like to be able to give the unfortunate bastard a decent meal. A man should eat well, especially if it is his last meal. He chuckled, still having a sense of humor, even in the darkness.

After the war, Podrick had gathered up Brienne’s body and headed back to Tarth to bury her with her people. He had gone to Castle Black to rebuild and reflect on his life. Sometimes, he couldn't believe he had outlasted both of them, when he had come to the North specifically to face the undead and die. He couldn't understand why he was still here and they were both dead, when they had both had so much hope for the future. 

He waits for the 998 Lord Commander. There are three, healthy, brown rabbits in a cage in the corner waiting with him. There is his Valyrian steel sword, Widow's Wail, at his hip.. 

He had made an agreement with Jon Snow, before he left with the White Walkers. It was part of the peace, part of the pact that was made willingly. Jon Snow had agreed to it all willingly, dutifully accepting it, but he had pulled him aside. 

Jon had whispered to him, “Meet me at the Nightfort on the longest night of the year. Bring this..”

He had handed him a slip of parchment. Later, when he read it, Jaime thought it was a strange request, but he had brought it the first night and met with the once King in the North. As Jon Snow left, he told him to meet him the following year and he had whispered in his ear the supplies he needed. 

The first year, Jon Snow had brought his own rabbit. Jaime Lannister had noticed the changes to Jon Snow, the whiteness to his skin, the coldness in his touch. The second year, the Lord Commander had brought two rabbits. This year, he brought three. It seemed Jon Snow drank blood to help him keep his humanity somewhat intact. 

It is then he hears the noise and he stills. It was an old empty garrison. Jaime had more recruits than they had had in maybe a thousand years, but he did not man this castle. 

He needed it empty for this night, once a year every year. 

The Lord Commander turns and sees the man in the doorway. He briefly touches his sword until he sees the color of his eyes, still grey and not unnaturally blue.

“Snow,” he says to the figure dressed in mismatched furs. He had left his black fur of the KIng in the North, at Winterfell for his wife and unborn sons all those years ago.

It was only three years ago.

Jon Snow smiled at being called his bastard name It represented familiarity, mortality, his humanity. It reminded him of a life left behind. Jaime appraised Jon Snow quickly. It seemed he was still changing, turning into something else.

Jaime handed him some mulled wine to help ease the chill. He asked, “How are you?”

Jon Snow coughed and took a drink of the mulled wine. “Better,” he said. “It is good to see you, Kingslayer.”

“I prefer Lord Commander.”  
“Of course, I had forgotten. How goes the Night’s Watch?” 

 

They talk of the NIght’s Watch and how the recruits have increased tenfold since the war.

“Every bastard thinks they can be a hero because of you.” The Lord Commander says.

Jon laughs.

“My brother writes that your twin sons, the princes, grow big and strong. They are well.”

“Are they?” he said, voice tinged with regret.

“They are, Your Grace..” 

Jaime continues because the other man has so little to say, “The Queen rebuilds the Capitol. She has renegotiated the loan with the Iron Bank. She has issued more charters for towns in every one of the kingdoms. She plans to tax the cities and the lords. She is creating a school, like the Citadel for boys in King’s Landing, as well as trying to create a standing army loyal to the Queen.”

The other man speaks, “Daenery had a great many ideas. I hope they don’t kill her over them.”

They eat the stew. He offers Jon a bowl he eats a little but he still eats. “I have need of your rabbits,” he says. 

Jaime turns toward the fire to add more logs and he listen to him drain the small animal's blood into bowl. The struggle is soft and slows quickly. The sound of the man drinking the animal’s blood is more disturbing the thought of it than the actual sound he can hear. Jaime sits in the chair and waits for him to finish with the rabbits. 

“How are you?” he asks after Jon has drained the rabbits and drank the bowl down. 

“I have probably two years before whatever is finished. I grow less cold every day.”

“I hear the Queen cries for you still. Perhaps next year, I could have her here with me. “

“No.. No, I would not be strong enough.”

They finish up. Jaime hands him the bags and Jon goes out the way he came. A man still and not a monster, yet.

Perhaps, next year, he would stick Widow’s Wail in Jon's body and he would shatter like glass.

 

I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch for this night and all the nights to come.


End file.
